“Ain’t nothin’ worse than thinkin’ yer safe and learnin’ ya ain’t the hard way.” - Old Wastelander Proverb

My eyelids felt heavy, almost weighted to the point of being a struggle to open them. It was so dark that it took me some time to notice that I had actually succeeded in opening them. I started to turn my head to look around, but a spike of crystal agony shattered inside me. I stifled a scream, and went still. I laid there for as long as I could, sucked in a few breaths and then tried again. Pain ripped through me as I rolled over, but this time I was ready for it. I pushed through, gritting my teeth so hard I briefly worried they might crack, and rewarded myself for a job well done by lowering my forehead to the dirt.

“O-okay… just… fuck…” I gasped. I blindly reached backwards, feeling inside my saddlebag for one of my remaining potions, when something inside me popped.

I woke up again some time later, slumped back into the dirt. I must’ve blacked out. My leg was still in my saddlebag. I carefully resumed the search, choking out a laugh when I found a potion and worked it free. I scraped it across the floor towards my mouth. With some doing, I managed to get the stopper free and greedily sucked down the contents, choking on the syrupy potion.

The pain began to ebb, something inside me slithered back into place, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I laid still for several minutes until I felt confident I could move without hurting myself worse and slowly pushed myself up. I put my hoof in something wet and pulpy and slipped, landing face first in it. I sat up like a shot and spat thick, coppery paste from my mouth. I fumbled with my pipbuck, and a green light clicked on, bathing me in its glow.

I found the ghoul I’d been tangling with. I’d apparently landed on it during our fall. The inside of its skull spilled out across the jagged ground like a spilled plate of gruel. Jellied, putrid brains dripped off my chin and I hurriedly wiped my face before I added to the grossness with my own vomit. I raised my pipbuck and glanced up. The ceiling was two feet overhead and I could see the passage I’d tumbled through, but not much further than that from the meager light my pipbuck had to offer. I absently wiped at my face again, a chunk of goddess’s-only-knew-what peeling from my lip, and continued to look around.

I was in some sort of cavern. The rough, slate walls disappearing into the darkness outside my lamp after a few feet in either direction. “Sentinel? Jerry?” I dared to whisper. I listened intently, my ears flicking this way and that. But all I heard was the odd drip and the ominous yawning silence. It was worth a shot, even if it was almost impossible, I rationalized. I held up the lamp and peered into the darkness. Neither direction seemed to yield better results. I took a couple of tentative steps and then turned and proceeded down the opposite direction. I walked in relative silence, broken only by the occasional skittering stone and the soft clinking of my armor.

“Just great Free,” I muttered barely above a whisper. “Fell through a door and somehow got yourself lost in a cave below a museum…” I stopped as the rocky, uneven ground sloped steeply. I planted my hooves firmly and peered into the darkness. “Yeah… no, fuck that…” I muttered, turning around.

Then I stopped and glanced back.

“Hello?” I called, my ears angled towards the slope. A faint, whispering tickled them, beckoning me. I stared into the darkness for a minute and with a sigh I stepped off the ledge. The slope was steep, but not impossible to control. I slid down awkwardly, stumbling when the rough natural stone gave way to carved stone blocks. The cave became a corridor, with large stone bricks forming a nice, even passage.

“Hello?” I called again. The strange whispers seemed to answer me. Voices half forgotten bidding me deeper and deeper. Up ahead the corridor curved, and a faint orange glow peaked out of the gathered darkness, pulsating in sync with the beat of my heart.

“Yes… I hear you…” a voice called. “Please… come closer…” The voice sounded weak and pleading. It reminded me of a slave that had been injured in an accident, and the way she pleaded to not die alone as her blood pooled beneath her. The voice tugged at my heartstrings and I moved slowly in the direction of the glow. It grew warmer and brighter as I approached, almost as if sensing my trepidation and seeked to calm my nerves. The ethereal whispers grew louder as well. For a brief moment I heard a stallion’s voice, familiar and yet unknown at the same time, calmly calling my name. Then it was drowned out by the unceasing whispers, each vying to be heard over the last.

“Who’s out there? Are you hurt?” I called out, seeking to silence the ghostly whispering even if only for a moment.

“Oh yes… I hurt… I have hurt for so long…” the voice replied, sounding as though on the verge of tears.

The bend was just in front of me now, the glow warm and inviting. Taking a deep breath I stepped around the curve, coming nose to nose with a stallion. I jumped back a step, but the stallion didn’t move. Couldn’t move. The statue was old and detailed like I’d never seen. The long spire of a horn rose from its head and two marvelously detailed wings from its back. Its twin, on the opposite side of the tunnel, lay in shattered ruins, a large stone slab having toppled on top of it. The orange glow came from behind the statues, spilling from the space the fallen slab had once occupied.

“Are… are you in there?” I called out.

“Yes, little one. You’re so close now…” the voice responded. I took a deep breath and stepped over the crushed statuary and through the opening. The chamber beyond was remarkable, and I found myself unable to properly appreciate its grandeur. Stone that didn’t seem cut or chiseled, but simply poured into twisting and elegant designs. Ornate images of two gigantic alicorns adorned the walls and a flowing indecipherable script was etched beneath each. At the room’s center was a dais, extruded from the solid ground just like the walls seemed to be. And perched atop it was a large, glowing stone the color of honey. Save for that, the room was empty. The whispers had stopped, and the room was eerily silent.

“Um… hello?” I called, more than a little unnerved by everything so far.

“That voice… I remember you…” My ears flattened and I swallowed the building fear as I looked around. The light of my pipbuck was not the strongest, and it didn’t do much of anything to light the enormous room. I fished the spare glow stick from my bag, gave it a crack and a shake, and tossed it over by the door. At least if I had to I’d know which direction to run away screaming in.

“Is somepony there?” I called again.

“I am right here little one,” the voice responded again. I turned in a slow circle, peering out toward the edges of the room, having expected one of the alicorns on the wall to peel free and reveal itself.

“Wh-where are you?” I called, maybe a little louder than was necessary.

“Right here,” the voice said again. I spun around, my eyes darting around, searching for the owner of the voice. Left, right, up and down yielded nothing and no one.

“I don’t… there’s no one here…” I said as I trotted around the circular room. The voice chuckled, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere. A resonating, mirthless laugh.

“What are you? Deceit? Of course there is. There is you, the little gray one. And me.”

Once again my eyes fell on the honey colored stone, and for the briefest of moments I swore I could see eyes glaring at me from within. I approached slowly, my head cocked to the side slightly.

“Are you… the stone?” I asked, knowing how crazy it sounded. The inside of the stone swirled and the eyes appeared again, bloodshot and decidedly mad. They darted this way and that before speaking, as if afraid someone else might hear.

“No! Don’t be ridiculous!” the voice said, the eyes finally falling upon me. “I am IN the stone.”

“Oh,” I said, looking up into the eyes. “Uhm… my name is Free. What’s yours?”

The eyes retreated briefly, and gave me a strange look. “Name? I have no name. I simply am,” the eyes said.

Now it was my turn to offer up a strange look. “Okay then… What are you?” I asked.

“Me? I am Treachery,” the voice said, eyes crinkling in the corners as though they were settled over a smiling face. I know I wore a look of confusion, but continued the line of questioning.

“Okay,” I said, dragging out the latter half of the word. “Treachery it is. What is this place?” The eyes glanced around conspiratorially.

“The Maker’s Prison…” Treachery whispered. “Well… my prison at least.”

I glanced around, and then back the way he’d come.

“There aren’t any bars. What keeps you here?” I asked as I walked slowly around the stone. Treachery loosed a throaty laugh, the sound of barely contained madness.

“No bars? Ha! You know nothing little thing. The Makers are always watching.” The eyes narrowed and glanced around as though speaking of them might make them appear. “They still watch, even after all this time.”

“H-how long have you been in here?” I asked.

Treachery was quiet for a long time. “Forever,” it finally said, the eyes rolling theatrically, “But enough about me! Instead I have a question for you, Free. What did you do with your wings?”

My brow furrowed and I sat down on the floor, looking at the gemstone curiously. “What… what do you mean?” I asked.

The swirling ether in the stone formed two flapping, bird-like wings on either side of the eyes. “You know. Your wings.” As I watched a horn formed from the flowing energy and deposited itself just above the eyes. “And your horn for that matter. Why are you incomplete?”

“Incom- I never had wings. Or a horn.” I said with a shake of my head. “I’m an earth pony.”

The ethereal appendages vanished, leaving only the eyes, which looked somewhat bewildered. “Never… had…” The eyes narrowed and seemed to press against the interior of the stone. Each one was as large as me. “So it is true! The favored children fell from grace!” The eyes retreated as Treachery began to speak in nonsensical circles, slipping into a strange lyrical language. Suddenly the eyes widened and the muttering cut off like a switch was thrown. Treachery’s eyes focused on me with severe intensity. “I remember you!”

“Y-yeah… you said that…” I said, getting to my hooves and backing up a step. “But you didn’t say how.”

The eyes narrowed, seemingly boring into me. “My memory is fuzzy. You are half-remembered. Viewed through my Treacherous. But… You are the irksome one! Yes yes! The one I’d thought perished,” The eyes loomed over me. I nodded slowly, and I backed up a step. Suddenly Treachery’s eyes widened and seemed to press against the crystal. “Where are you going?” it asked with an urgency.

“Um… I have friends that I need to meet back up with,” I said, offering a forced smile and jabbing a hoof over my shoulder. “Can’t keep them waiting you know.”

“But… but you’ve only just arrived!” it said quickly, glancing around the room. “I… please. It has been so long since I’ve had a proper conversation. The Guardians, they don’t speak. And my Treacherous, they are me. I am them. I am TIRED of talking to myself!”

I paused. This… Treachery, was clearly crazy.

And a gemstone.

I shook my head and chalked it up to some kind of magic. And magic was something I didn’t bother trying to figure out. Still though, the hint of desperation in its voice gave me pause. “What did you do to wind up imprisoned?” I asked.

The eyes retreated, and glanced around. “I existed…”

“You were imprisoned for… that doesn’t make any sense…”

“I existed. The Makers did not like that and locked me away. Locked us away,” Treachery muttered.

“Us?” I asked.

“But you! You are a little broken thing!” it said, suddenly, its voice almost manic as it stared down at me. “No wings. No horn. A mere shell of what you once were.”

“But… I’ve always been an earth pony,” I said. I glanced over my shoulder and then up at my forehead, trying to imagine a horn there. The eyes crinkled and half-crazed laughter dribbled from the stone. It set my teeth on edge. “Well, I really should be going. Gotta find m-”

“Friends!” Treachery half shouted, the eyes looming large, almost pressed against the outside of the stone and looking at me in… fear? “We’re friends? Yes?”

For the love of the Goddesses and everything you have ever held dear you will say no! My mind screamed. SAY NO!

“Uhh… I guess so?” I said with a half smile as my mental self bashed its head into a wall.

The eyes blinked for a moment, and then crinkled over an unseen smile. “Yes! Friends! We are friends!” it said proudly. “Before you go! I want to give my friend a gift!”

“A gift? What kind of gift?” I asked.

“Oh, the best kind!” Treachery said, its eyes darting side to side furtively. “Come closer! And press your hoof against the stone.”

“And then what?” I asked, lifting my hoof off the ground tentatively.

“Press stone, receive a gift!” Treachery said with a giggle. It set off so many red flags in my brain. But still I lifted my hoof.

“O...kay…” I muttered, reaching out to touch the stone. “But then I really need to-”

Crackling orange energy arced across the stone and through my body. My muscles tensed and my hoof felt glued to the stone’s surface. Treachery’s crazed laughter seemed to echo through the chamber and as the energy coursed through my veins, my eyes rolled back into my head. “Oh… I know, I know it hurts. But I promise you, friend, this will help you,” Treachery cooed. “Use it wisely.” And then I blacked out.

I jerked awake, sitting up like a shot until an intense pressure in my skull drove me back down with a groan. It felt an awful lot like my brain was trying to force itself out through my eyes. “Oh what fresh hell is this?” I muttered, pressing a hoof to my forehead. I rolled onto my side, and then over completely, standing slowly on shaking legs. I craned my head around as my brain struggled to reboot and looked blearily around me. Moldy wooden desks, the heavy stench of mildew and dust and not a strange honey-colored stone in sight. I was back in the museum. I looked at my hoof. Other than a lingering tingling sensation, I felt no different. A quick scan of my pipbuck’s status page told me about the same thing.

“What was the point?” I muttered, as I stepped to the door and reached out to open it. I paused, and then glanced back at the desk and cabinets behind me. Couldn’t hurt… I took a few minutes and rifled through everything. In the end I came out with a modest haul. A few more blue orbs, some coins from before the war, a couple of spark batteries, and bullets that, once again, seemed terribly out of place in a desk drawer, let alone a museum. With a shrug I tucked it all away in my pack. Satisfied that I’d looked everywhere I could, I decided I should try to make my way back to the lobby. I was ready to be done with this whole place.

It was much easier making my way back to the lobby. The sun was beginning to rise and light was beginning to shine through broken windows and ceiling. As I trotted into the lobby, two heads lifted from behind the reception desk. “Goddesses, Free! Where have you been?” Jerry shouted from across the lobby as I strolled in. She and Sentinel had made a small camp behind the circular reception desk, having pushed the tour guide’s remains aside and… was that a fire pit? Jerry scrambled over the desk and galloped over, throwing her hooves around me tightly. I froze, briefly unsure if I should return the hug, but Jerry quickly composed herself and pulled away, and the moment was lost.

“Sorry. I got lost. This place is… well, it sucks... “ I muttered.

“Got that right…” Sentinel grumbled. “Practically swarmin’ wif ferals too, innit?” He looked up, seeming tired of all things. “Can we go now? I’d like to never come back ‘ere as quick as I can.”

I nodded and then glanced at Jerry, who appeared to be studying me intently. “What?”

‘Sweet Celestia, Free. You are a mess,” she said with an unintentional chuckle as she walked in a slow circle around me. “You look like you’ve been through hell. You’re missing a shoulder pad. Your armor is… dented and scraped… You’re missing your club too.”

My eyes widened at that last bit and I turned. Sure enough, Liberator was gone. The hooks that had once held it in place were bent all out of shape. One even looked like it had been snapped off. “Great…” I breathed. “I’m very done with this place. Did you two at least find something to make this nightmare worth it?”

“Not to justify coming all this way…” Jerry muttered with a shake of her head.

“Fuck no,” came Sentinel’s terse response.

“Well third times not the charm it seems. Let’s get going."

We were on our way a few minutes later, having consolidated all the salvage into one of my packs. Ever the pack mule I guess. We trudged our way back the way we’d come as thunder rumbled overhead. We hadn’t been out of the museum for more than an hour before a steady rain began to fall, and seconds later the three of us were soaked through. Sentinel didn’t seem to pay it much mind, but Jerry and I were soon shivering as the cold sapped our strength. Sentinel muttered something about ‘kids these days’ but said nothing more. We managed to trundle along, but after two hours with the rain trying its best to scour us off the face of Equestria, we were a wreck. Unlike last time, there was no charging station or abandoned shack to take refuge in. Not even a big rock. Just an endless sea of mud and half dead plants somehow clinging to something resembling life.

“Has the weather always been this bad here?” Jerry called over the rain, her hood pulled up over her head and drawn tight so that only her eyes were visible.

Sentinel laughed mirthlessly. “Fuck no. Badlands used to be a desert,” he said with a shake of his head. “Then the pegasi pulled the curtain. Fucked up the weather all around Equestria. Rains more now than ever before.”

I glanced up at the thick grey cloud cover and the pouring rain, my eyes squinted to protect them from falling droplets.

Pegasi.

A ghost of a memory flickered through my mind. Staring up at the night’s sky. Talking with momma about winged ponies saving us one day. I frowned a bit as the memory turned bitter. The silly dreams of a foal.

"You ever seen them?" I asked.

"See who?" Sentinel asked over the rain. "The Enclave?"

"If that means the Pegasi, then yeah. Them," I said with a shrug.

Sentinel shook his head. "Nah. They don't care none for us ground pounders. Too busy with their floating cities and 'oggin' all the sun to give two 'alves of a fuck 'bout us."

"They're that bad?" Jerry asked, joining the conversation.

"Not bad," Sentinel said, "just separated. They can't see us, so we ain't on their minds. You wanna talk bad though, you look to the north. Some bloke's got 'imself a broadcaster. Settin' 'imself up like some sorta savior." Sentinel stopped and spat, looking back towards Jerry and I as we caught up. "Charismatic as fuck, that one. Him, ya watch out for."

"Because he's charismatic?" Jerry asked.

"Because it's the charismatic ones that can convince ponies to do terrible things while thinkin' it's fine and dandy." Sentinel grew quiet after that. Either he was letting his words sink in or they had accidentally dredged up some long buried memories. Either way, I let it go. I focused more on putting one hoof in front of the other. I was cold, hungry, and completely soaked. But there would be time enough to rest later. We continued on through the rain, before finally calling it a night in the rusting skeleton of a wagon stop with just enough of a roof remaining to be considered shelter. Jerry and I curled up next to the collapsed bench, a light snoring coming from her almost immediately. Sentinel silently took up watch, using the meager cover to pull a cigarette from his pack and light it. Wisps of smoke escaped his ruined cheek.

“Thanks Sentinel,” I said. He didn’t say anything, but nodded slightly in acknowledgement. Then, I too fell asleep.

“Wakey wakey,” Sentinel said, pressing his hoof into my side with a casual insistency. My eyes fluttered open, and I looked up at Sentinel. A light rain pinged off the rusted metal dome overhead. During the night it must’ve downgraded from torrent to drizzle. “You were mumblin’ in your sleep.”

“Was I?” I asked, rubbing at my eye with my foreleg. Jerry stirred next to me, waking up as well, and I felt my face color. “W-what did I say?”

“Fuck if I know,” Sentinel said with a shrug. “Sounded like gibberish to me. Almost like you was singin’.”

“Thank the goddesses…” I muttered, breathing a sigh of relief that I hadn’t confessed my love in my sleep. I spared Jerry a glance as she stretched out her forelegs and yawned. I’ll tell her when we get back. We’re free now. We have someplace to live. No reason to wait anymore.

“Mornin’...” Jerry muttered.

“Mornin’,” Sentinel and I replied, all discussion about my sleep talking dropped. We dipped into our bags and retrieved a couple of faded canned goods for breakfast. Sentinel made jokes about the food being older than him, but it was actually rather tasty, and we ate it with gusto. Judging from Sentinel’s odd stare, he didn’t feel the same way. But he patiently waited while we ate, and when we were done, we started out again.

“Sentinel?” Jerry asked after a bit.

“Yeah?” he called back, nothing looking back.

“Do you eat?”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh,” she said, letting the subject die.

The light pattering of sprinkles and our slogging steps through the mud were the only sounds for a time. The silence allowed me the opportunity to think. Just what sort of crazy had I stumbled on in the museum? A strange talking stone? What’s more, a strange talking stone that spoke cryptically about things I couldn’t begin to understand! The whole venture had been a bust! We’d left with barely anything of worth. It was almost as if…

...as if you were supposed to wind up there...

“Where you goin’ big guy?”

I jerked to a stop and looked up. Jerry and Sentinel stood a few feet to my right, having made a turn along the way. And I had been so deep in thought that I hadn’t even noticed. “Sorry… lost in my own head,” I said as I jogged over to them. “Again.”

“That normal?” Sentinel asked Jerry out of the side of his mouth.

“Yup,” she said with a nod and a smirk. “He’s been doing that for as long as I’ve known him.”

“I don’t zone out that much,” I muttered, my ears drooping.

“At least three times this week,” Jerry said matter-of-factly.

“Okay… so maybe I’ve been zoning out a bit more lately. Gimme a break, I’ve never had this much freedom to think before. My little brain is trying hard to process all the things,” I muttered. Jerry fixed me with a deadpan look from under her hood that bordered on a scowl. Slowly her veneer cracked, she snorted and then laughed. Her nose wrinkling as she dissolved into a giggle fit. Even Sentinel let out an uncharacteristic chuckle.

“What a goof ball,” Jerry said with a smile. A smile that seemed to brighten the dreary day.

“That’s me!” I said, smiling at her.

...now kiss…

I shook my head and trotted forward, the chill of the rain forgotten. “C’mon, let’s go home. I could use a rest with a warm blanket.”

Impossibly, Jerry’s smile brightened and she nodded. “Oh! I like the sound of that! Home.”

“You kids are lucky. Many would love to call Deepwater home,” Sentinel chimed in.

“You could always ask to stay,” Jerry said cheerfully. “I’m sure your experience would make you an excellent guard.”

Sentinel chuckled sullenly. “Yeah, for a spell, maybe.” A hush fell over us, leaving us with our thoughts and the gentle churning of the rain. We weren’t far from Deepwater now. We weren’t far from home.

The rain had stopped. For now, at least. Once again we ate our ancient breakfast, and then set out. Far in the distance across the shifting hills of sand, presently mud, we could see the mountains as they stabbed upwards toward the cloud curtain. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Home.

Jerry and I hummed a wordless tune, only somewhat in harmony with one another. It was nice, though probably terribly annoying to Sentinel. Still, he made no move to stop us and we continued our discordant tune until Deepwater was within sight.

“Home at last,” I said, standing on a small rise of wet dirt.

A short while later we had checked in with the door guards on duty and were greeted by Bastion as we made our way through the chainlink checkpoint. “Good to see you back in one piece,” Bastion said cheerfully. He paused, giving me a quick once over. “Err… more or less. What happened to you big guy?”

“Don’t ask,” I grumbled, twisting to grab my saddlebag and pass it over to him. “Here’s all we could find. ‘Fraid it isn’t much,” I said around a mouthful of leather.

Bastion’s horn flared to life and he took the saddlebags. “Yeah, I figured as much. Sorry, the mayor was insistent you check it out. Like a mare possessed.”

I nodded absently as Bastion took the bag and trotted off. “I’m gonna need that back, Bastion!” I called after him. He made a non-commital grunt and I sighed, finally allowing myself to relax. It had been a rough couple of days. And there was a pervasive sense of wrong that niggled at the back of my skull.

“C’mon,” Jerry said, nudging my shoulder and pulled my focus. “Let’s get something to eat. Something smells good.”

“You kids have fun, I hear a pint callin’ to me,” Sentinel said as he trotted off towards the bar as Jerry hooked a leg around mine and pulled me in the opposite direction toward the canteen. The closer we got, the more I could smell something cooking, and the more my mouth watered. We weren’t the only ones, as line had formed and the general murmur of ponies talking filled the canteen with life as the line shifted forward.

“Wish the rain would stop… Guard duty in the rain sucks. Full belly or not.”

“Ugh, right? And the way your coat manages to get tangled in the armor is awful.”

“Did you hear? Shadow’s laid up in the Doc’s office. Recovering from some sort of fungal infection.”

“Oh damn, we should bring him some food. I’m sure Doc won’t mind.”

“Hey! Don’t give out my portion!”

It was much more… lively, than at The Dig. Ponies were afraid to talk, here, it was a constant din of several groups all having separate conversations. And it was… nice. The noise was a comfort, oddly enough. Ponies here seemed… happy. And if not happy, then at least not terrified. They were truly living their lives. I glanced at Jerry, who craned her head to peer around the line, and wondered if she thought the same. The line shifted again. And Again. Then it was Jerry’s turn. The older mare behind the counter smiled. “What can I get you, sweetie?”

“I… I have a choice?” she squeaked. The older mare nodded and Jerry smiled wide, peering quickly at the options. “Uh… can I get some of that please?” she asked, pointing at a tray of… something. The mare spooned up a healthy dishful and levitated it out to Jerry.

“There you go, dear. Piping hot mutfruit casserole. You a new resident or a guest?” she asked.

“We’re a new scavenging team,” she said, cheerfully gesturing to me. I waved back.

“Great! Welcome aboard! I’m Dollop. This is my cafeteria. I look forward to seeing you around,” she said. “That’s five caps for the meal, dear.” Jerry twisted and retrieved five caps from her bag and then, bowl balanced on her head, she stepped aside, waiting for me.

“I’d like the same, please,” I said.

Dollop looked me up and down and then a larger bowl levitated out from under the counter. “You’re a big’un. Gonna need a bigger portion to keep you going.” she said as she filled the bowl with the strange purple paste. “Ten caps.” I paid her and then moved to stand next to Jerry.

“There’s a seat over there,” Jerry said with a slight nod of her head that threatened to topple her bowl off her head. We took our seats and then looked at the food. It was a slightly browned paste that was purple in the middle.

“Do you know what mutfruit is?” I asked her.

“No clue, but it smells amazing,” she said as she tucked into her meal. Immediately her ears perked up and she looked up at me with smears of purple on her lips. “It TASTES amazing too.”

Smiling, I took my first bite. A semi-sweet paste that had a slightly lingering taste of cheese and… something else, washed over me. She was right. It did taste amazing. I was suddenly happy I’d been given a bigger bowl, and I ate with a little more vigor. I was so engrossed in my meal, I didn’t notice somepony had come up behind me until their hoof clapped me on the back.

“Boy’s got an appetite don’t he?”

Jerry looked up, her jaw fell open, and her eyes widened. I looked up from my meal, the casserole sticking to my chin and turned. All at once my meal soured, and I felt as though I was going to vomit. An orange maned stallion with matted, greasy fur stood behind me; a twisted, yellow grin on his face. I hadn’t recognized his voice but now, looking at him, it came flooding back.

“Chains…” I breathed.

The slaver dropped himself down onto the bench next to me and hooked his foreleg across my shoulders to pull me close. “Aww, lookit you two. All cozy in the Gulch,” he hissed, looking between Jerry and I. Jerry’s eyes were wide, and she stared at the table in shocked silence. Chains glanced down at my bowl, and reached out to dab his hoof into the contents. “What is this shit?” he asked, giving it a sniff.

“What are you doing here?” I croaked, lifting a hoof to wipe at my mouth.

“Ain’t it obvious?” he said, giving me a shake and wiping his hoof off on my armor. “Why, we came to bring two of our missing tools back to The Dig.”

“We?” I asked.

“There you are, slave.” My pulse quickened and I could feel a chill run down the length of my spine. I twisted, looking over my shoulder. Striding down the aisle were Zero, Lash and three other slavers I didn’t recognize. Zero fixed me with an impassive stare, almost like he was bored. “You have made many problems for Master Fortune, and he has tasked me to exact reimbursement from your flesh and blood.”

My heart thundered in my chest, and it took everything I had to not turn tail and run. “How…?” I asked, unsure of what question I was going to ask. How did you find us? How did you get here? How do we get rid of you?

“The guards were real nice. All we had to do was give them our weapons while we’re visiting,” Lash said as she stepped past Zero and closer to me, a predatory look in her eyes. “As long as we’re civil, they don’t really care where the caps come from.”

“Civil… meaning you can’t drag us out of here,” Jerry said hesitantly. Lash grit her teeth and growled at the words.

“No,” Zero said, “but we own you. We will ensure that you are returned to Master Fortune.”

I took a slow, calming breath and shrugged Chains’ leg off of me. “No.”

Zero’s head turned my way, his normally calm demeanor marred by a raised brow. “Excuse me?”

“I said no. We’re done with The Dig. And you can’t take us without provoking the guards. So just leave,” I said flatly. Then Zero’s calm veneer cracked momentarily, and all I saw beneath was barely contained rage. All the slavers seemed to sense it too, as they took a collective step back or became suddenly engrossed in whatever else they could.

Just as quickly as it broke, Zero’s mask of calm returned and he let out a slow breath. “Soon enough you will come to regret that remark, slave,” he said. He turned and trotted away, followed by the other slavers. Chains and Lash lingered a moment longer.

“See ya real soon, fucko,” Chains said, pushing down on my shoulder to stand and he trotted after the others, leaving just Jerry, Lash and I.

“It’s only going to get worse the longer you drag this out,” Lash said. She was… oddly quiet for her.

I turned to face her, giving her an odd look. “I’ll take that chance, Lash,” I said. She lingered a moment longer, her jaw working as she mulled over saying something, and then turned and galloped after the others.

I exhaled slowly and turned back to Jerry. “Fuck…”

Author's Note

11-13-20: Happy Friday the 13th on the worst year ever! To celebrate, have an unedited Chapter 12!